Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Lunar Eclipse...and Ultrarunning

Well, I didn't get up quite in time to see it. I was out the door at 5:30 am today and the moon had already been restored to its full diameter. I must look ahead to June, I think, when the next lunar eclipse is slated to occur and specifically plan for a night run at that time.

But this morning was a fine morning indeed to run. As I did my old, familiar Harshman Road 5 mile loop, the full moon was off my left shoulder as I first headed north. The it was directly in my face as I turned generally west for a mile. Right then the moon went behind a thready cloud and a perfect image of the old Mobil logo Pegasus horse emerged. It was uncannily accurate, but persisted only a moment before the clouds roiled and it was gone.

Then the moon was off my right shoulder as I wound my way back south. Over the last segment, it was directly behind me as I headed over to the cemetery where I paused again at Janet Christiansen’s grave. Today all I could bring was some wild grasses.